One of the books that rocked my world as a young adult was Ursula K. Le Guin‘s Left Hand of Darkness. The reason this book struck me with such force in young adulthood is that it emphasized different aspects of the typical science-fiction journey. I read many...

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night Time by Mark Haddon is the first novel I know of that told the story entirely from the point of view of a person with Autism. There have been other books that dabbled in these waters, but Curious Incident is the first novel...

What does it mean to tell a story? When I think of “telling a story,” I am thinking specifically of the act of verbal storytelling – perhaps around a fire with an audience of people who can leave at any moment. In this situation of verbal storytelling, it’s important...

re-published on Arts Advocacy Day – March 12-13, 2018 I read on Brainpickings recently that Mark Rothko, the marvelous abstract expressionist painter, said that when people “weep” when seeing his paintings they are having the same transcendent experience he had...

Published on the birthday of Ira Glass, March 3, 1959 Ira Glass is an inspiration to me. His work on “This American Life” is consistently entertaining, invigorating, intriguing and surprising. It’s a very creative show, constantly pushing the limits...